Sensex rebounds with 80-point gain; HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank lead

In a volatile trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today bounced back from Monday's losses, ending 80 points up, but gains in blue-chip shares were broadly offset by sell-off in the SBI counter.

In a volatile trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday bounced back from Monday's losses, ending 80 points up, but gains in blue-chip shares were broadly offset by sell-off in the SBI counter.

After starting the day with a gain of 70 points, the BSE barometer Sensex slipped in the red but soon recovered to end at 20,932.48, up 80.10 points or 0.38%.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange's wide-based Nifty closed at 6,304.85, up 31.65 points or 0.50% after a choppy trade.

Marketmen said fresh buying in blue-chips aided recovery on the Dalal Street.

"Sensex was back in action with the buying at lower levels and the strong FII interest. The weakness during the afternoon trade was primarily the indicator of profit-booking", Unicon Financial Services CEO Gajendra Nagpal said.

HDFC Bank, Infosys Technologies and ICICI Bank came to the rescue of the market during the fag-end of the session, after witnessing good buying at their counters.

FMCG major HUL emerged as the top performer among the blue-chip companies by surging 4.3% to close at Rs 318.90.

Among the BSE 13 sectoral indices FMCG was the top gainer which soared 93.36 points to finish at 3,793.28, boosted by gain in another heavyweight ITC, which went up 1.34%.

Meanwhile, state-owned State Bank of India was the biggest laggard for the day, plunging 4.40%, after reporting a 22.2% decline in its second quarter net profit on Monday.

The country's largest lender had posted a 22.2% decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2,437.1 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, against Rs 3,133.1 crore in the same period last year.

"SBI had posted lower-than-expected second quarter numbers due to which the stock performed badly today," said an expert.

Reliance Industries, which carries the maximum weightage in the Sensex, also halted its three day rally at the street and fell 1.03%.

Another big attraction on the Dalal Street was the technology and IT counters. Software giant TCS rose 2.25% and the IT bellwether Infosys too inched up 0.94%.

Country's top telco Bharti Airtel also displayed a good show and edged higher by 1.74%, ahead of expectations of handsome second quarter numbers to be announced on Wednesday.